Breakers finally beat Foothill

Finally, the Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team had Foothill’s number.

A year after dropping a season-opening overtime game to the Knights, and nearly two years removed from dropping a close game in the finals of the CIF Masters tournament, the Breakers opened up their 2008-09 campaign Tuesday by posting a 9-5 victory at Beckman High.

An impressive start propelled Laguna into a commanding lead over Foothill. The Breakers opened up a 4-0 lead and maintained the four-goal cushion (5-1) at the end of the first quarter. They went on to outscore the Knights, 2-1, in the second quarter to take a 7-2 lead at the half.

“The girls did a great job. They were emotionally fired up for this game,” Laguna Coach Ethan Damato said. “We played a really good first quarter and a really good first half overall.

“Foothill’s a really good team and they fought back in the second half, but we were able to pull away again at the end.”

Laguna, ranked No. 1 in Division II, saw its advantage trimmed to 7-5 in the final period, but goals by Natasha Schulman and Taylor Dodson put Foothill away.

Annika Dries, who scored two of Laguna’s first four goals, went on to lead all scorers with three goals. Jesse Holechek and Lexie Ross both scored twice.

The Breakers currently are competing at the Villa Park Classic. The tournament got underway Thursday, continues today and concludes Saturday.

Next week, Laguna will host Edison in a 3:15 p.m. match Tuesday.